originally sent by Dror Kamir
==Wikimedia Israel – June-October report==
===Bureaucratic issues===
1. The annual general assembly took place in Tel Aviv on 25 August.
Most of it was dedicated to technical issues required by the law:
signing the annual financial report and confirming minor changes to
the bylaws. Note: WM-IL's bylaws are basically the standard NPO bylaws
suggested by the Israeli statute of non-profit corporations, and we
decided to align with any changes to this statute as long as there is
no essential need to adopt our own rules.
2. The general assembly decided to keep the current board, with no
reshuffles, for another year.
3. We finally have our own domain: www.wikimedia.org.il Manuel
Schneider generously offered us to host our site on his company's
servers, and we are grateful for that and for his help with some
technical issues. We still use the former wiki system as a closed wiki
for communication among board members and reports that cannot be made
public.
4. After submitting our first financial report to the local
registrar, our secretary expressed cautious optimism about getting the
"tax deductibility" status within the coming year. Let's hope he is
not too optimistic.
===Recruitment===
1. Assaf Bartov who manages the Ben Yehuda Project (the Israeli
Hebrew equivalent of the Gutenberg Project) joined WM-IL. We expect
him to lend us some of his experience.
2. Apart from Assaf, 2 Hebrew Wikipedians joined in too. We still
encounter difficulties in bringing new members. Many people find it
hard to distinct between WM-IL and the Hebrew Wikipedia, and think
that being a contributor to the latter is enough. Other people support
us in principle but don't understand why becoming a member is
necessary.
===Projects===
1. Free image collection project - This project will be called
Wiki-Piki (it was the idea of our partners in ISOC-IL, and we said: so
be it). This trilateral joint project is advancing slowly but surely.
We have a "gamma" version of the website through which images will be
uploaded and cataloged. Some technical issues still hinder the
beta-version, in particular moving the picture periodically as bulks
to the Commons. There are also some legal issues that still need to be
resolved, e.g. whether it is legal to accept copyright waiver from
minors.
2. Stable version - this project was originally part of our
cooperation with the Israeli government's "Computer to every Child"
project. This cooperation died out, mainly because we couldn't meet
all their demands. However, we would like to build a stable version of
selected articles from the Hebrew Wikipedia, which could be
distributed in schools or other educational institutions, recorded in
audio or video for disabled persons etc.
===Outreach===
1. The Marker - The Hebrew business paper The Marker dedicated one
of its weekend supplements to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects as
a whole. The reporter, Naomi Darom, was in close touch with our press
contact and interviewed most of our board members (as well as some
veteran local Wikipedians).
2. Yad Vashem - The Israeli national Holocaust research and
memorial center, Yad Vashem, asked to learn more about Wikipedia and
the way the Holocaust is depicted in its articles. Dror Kamir had a
long meeting at their office in Jerusalem, and tried to convince them
to release as much research and documentary material as they can under
free license.
3. The Israeli correctional authority - The officer in charge of
Internet related projects in the Israeli correctional authority (in
Israel it is still called "The Imprisonment Service") asked to learn
how Wikipedia is written and how the correctional authority and its
staff is described in the Hebrew Wikipedia. This was another
opportunity to thoroughly explain the concept of the Wikimedia project
to a state official.
===Conferences===
Makhshevim Ve Anashim - Our chair, Shay Yakir, was invited to talk at
the annual award ceremony held by the Makhshevim ve Anashim (Computers
and People) magazine. This magazine grants awards to the best Israeli
websites each year. Shay was invited to deliver one of the opening
speeches.
link to meta version:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Israel/…
''August, September and October 2008 (up to October 22)''':
== Tax deducible donations ==
The amount of tax deducible donations exceeded 140 000 PLN, much more
than it was expected by us. Therefore we started general discussion
how to spent these money. The wiki page was created to collect and
analyse the ideas: [http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Projekty_OPP].
The board has decided to transfer 50 000 PLN to safe bank investment
fund for 3 months and the other 50 000 PLN for 6 months. The rest of
tax deducible donation will be spent on current activities.
== Board meeting ==
On 13 August we had "real life" Board meeting (we meet on IRC every
Thursday, but for this time we wanted to meet face-to-face). We
discussed:
*What to do with tax deducible donations – it was decided to collect
as many as possible ideas, than analyze them and finally discuss
during General Asembly in September.
*To open a real office (now we have just a "virtual" address) with a
part-time secretary. It was decided to open a small office, at the
beginning of 2009 but, a the moment to avoid hiring regular staff at
least in 2009.
*To produce a professionally looking set of advertising materials for
various occasions and to hire a professional company or freelancer to
do it. We decided to spent 10 000 PLN on it.
*How to organize better summer Polish Wikimedia conference and how
much to spent on it – it was decided to announce sending proposals for
places by the end of the 2008, choose one and support it by hiring
paid main organizer of the conference – the head of local organizing
commitee.
*Wikikonkurs – it was decided to continue the contenst despite its
committee is actually not active. The duties of the committee is about
to be taken by Wikimedia Polska Board.
*Wikimania 2010 – it was discussed how to support the local organizing
committee in Gdansk, which is trying to start to contest for Wikimania
2010. It was decided that although it doesn't seem to be very probable
to have Wikimania 2010 in Poland, we must support local committee in
any way we can.
== Promotional activities ==
During GDJ meeting there was small celebration of 7 years of Polish
Wikipedia, which was covered by local TV station and several radio
stations.
On 20 September 2008 Wikimedia Polska organized its own stand during
Non-profit organizations picnic in Warsaw. This remainded us again
that we desperately need profesional looking advertising meterials.
After 2 months of looking for we had big problems to find a good
company or freelancer to project and produce a set of promotional
materials. Therefore it was decided to create a team of 3 volunteers
who are about to project the materials themselves and then find a
company which only will produce this stuff.
Press coverage (August 1st - October 22):
=== TV and radio stations ===
* 2008-09-28 [[RMF]] informacja o GDJ + wypowiedzi Maire i Ency'ego.
* 2008-09-28 18:00 "Teleskop" - program informacyjny [[Telewizja
Poznań|Telewizji Poznań]] nadaje
[http://ww6.tvp.pl/15965,20080929800068.strona relację (cały program)]
[http://ww6.tvp.pl/View?Cat=780&id=800096 (fragment programu z
relacją)] z [[m:GDJ 2008|GDJ 2008]]; wywiady z:
[[Wikipedysta:Nova|Novą]], [[Wikipedysta:Zwiadowca21|Zwiadowcą21]],
[[Wikipedysta:Maikking|Maikkingiem]],
[[Wikipedysta:Przykuta|Przykutą]] i [[Wikipedysta:Drozdp|Drozdpem]].
* 2008-08-01 TV Toya (łódzka kablówka) -
[http://moya.toya.net.pl/skaner/index.php?module=21ade5cfd28b2c2986e585e2525…
Wszystko o Wikipedii w TOYAnet]
=== Papers and journals ===
* 2008-10-10 [[:w:pl:Głos Szczeciński]] <small>[[Głos Szczeciński|Głos
nad morzem - tygodnik kamieński]]</small> "Sonda:Czy korzystamy z
Wikipedii?" nr 41 (362) str. 2
* 2008-08-24 [[:w:pl:Gość Niedzielny]] nr 34/2008 — "Wiki na
papierze", s. 51
([http://goscniedzielny.wiara.pl/?grupa=6&art=1219749146&dzi=1105487753
link])
=== Internet news media ===
*2008-10-22 [http://www.webinside.pl/news/5340 webinside.pl] -
"Kosmiczne liczby Wikipedii"
*2008-10-21 [http://www.heise-online.pl/news/Wikipedia-10-miliardow-wywolan-miesiecznie-…
heise-online.pl] - "Wikipedia: 10 miliardów wywołań miesięcznie"
*2008-10-10 [http://technologie.gazeta.pl/technologie/1,81010,5794897,Wikipedia_przechod…
gazeta.pl] (z serwisu
[http://webhosting.pl/Wikipedia.przechodzi.na.Ubuntu webhosting.pl]) -
"Wikipedia przechodzi na Ubuntu"
*2008-10-10 [http://dobreprogramy.pl/index.php?dz=15&n=9983&Wikimedia+migruje+na+Ubuntu+…
dobreprogramy.pl] - "Wikimedia migruje na Ubuntu Server"
*2008-10-01 [http://www.internetstandard.pl/news/168910.html
internetstandard.pl] - "Najsilniejsze marki w polskiej sieci"
*2008-09-30 [http://www.press.pl/newsy/pokaz.php?id=16215&rss=1
press.pl] - "Z dziesiątki największych serwisów tylko Wikipedia
straciła w lipcu użytkowników"
*2008-09-27 [http://www.radiomerkury.pl/index.php?art=29718
radiomerkury.pl] - "Wikipedia świętuje w Poznaniu" - wywiad z
[[Wikipedysta:ABX|ABX]]-em
*2008-09-27 "Siódme urodziny polskiej Wikipedii"
([http://www.telix.pl/artykul/siodme-urodziny-polskiej-wikipedii-3,24505.html
telix.pl], [http://dobreprogramy.pl/index.php?dz=15&n=9895&Siodme+urodziny+polskiej+Wik…
dobreprogramy.pl],
[http://media21.pl/software/programy/siodme-urodziny-polskiej-wikipedii/
media21.pl], [http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/wikipedia_obchodzi_siodme_urodziny_77104…
wiadomosci24.pl], [http://www.pcworld.pl/news/168430.html pcworld.pl],
[http://inwestycje.pl/it_ebiznes/siodme_urodziny_polskiej_wikipedii;37170;0.…
inwestycje.pl])
*2008-09-26 [http://histmag.org/?id=2101histmag.org] - "Wikipedia –
krótka historia największej encyklopedii świata"
*2008-09-26 [http://media2.pl/rss/internet/40990-7-lat-polskiej-wikipedii.html
media2.pl] - "7 lat polskiej Wikipedii"
*2008-09-25 [http://technologie.gazeta.pl/technologie/1,81010,5729882,Wikipedia__Wiedza_…
Wikipedia: Wiedza w zasięgu ręki czy idealne narzędzie manipulacji?]
*2008-09-23 [http://www.marketing-news.pl/message.php?art=18562
marketing-news.pl] - "Marki internetowe w natarciu – zmierzch mediów
tradycyjnych?" - Wikipedia jest w Polsce jedną z najbardziej
inteligentnych i pomocnych, praktycznych, oraz najlepiej łączących
rozrywkę z edukacją marek. Dla internautów jest jedną z
najsilniejszych - zaraz po Google.
*2008-09-22 [http://miasta.gazeta.pl/olsztyn/1,35189,5721606,6_tys__hasel_w__Wikipedii_W…
gazeta.pl] - "6 tys. haseł w Wikipedii Warmii i Mazur".
*2008-09-20 [http://www.sport1.pl/Wikipedia-niebezpiecznym-narzedziem-dla-dziennikarzy-/…
sport1.pl] - "Wikipedia niebezpiecznym narzędziem dla dziennikarzy?"
*2008-09-09 [http://www.computerworld.pl/artykuly/58959.html
computerworld.pl] - "Przeżyć Zagładę w Wikipedii"
*2008-09-08 [http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1506075,720,1,swiat_w_stylu_wiki,kioskart.html
onet.pl] - "Świat w stylu wiki"
*2008-09-04 [http://www.idg.pl/news/165306/Wiki.dla.biznesu..do.wyboru..do.koloru.html
idg.pl] - "Wiki dla biznesu: do wyboru, do koloru"
*2008-09-02 [http://www.heise-online.pl/news/Wikipedia-zablokowany-artykul-o-Sarah-Palin…
heise-online.pl] - "Wikipedia: zablokowany artykuł o Sarah Palin"
*2008-08-28 [http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,5638499,Internauci_obrazaja_…
gazeta.pl] - Internauci obrażają Obamę na Wikipedii
*2008-08-26 [http://dobreprogramy.pl/index.php?dz=15&n=9675&Wikipanion++mobilna+wersja+W…
dobreprogramy.pl] - "Wikipanion - mobilna wersja Wikipedii dla
urządzeń Apple"
*2008-08-22 [http://osnews.pl/ponad-140-000-zl-dla-wikipedii/
osnews.pl] - "Ponad 140 000 zł dla Wikipedii"
*2008-08-20 [http://www.heise-online.pl/news/Nagroda-Quadriga-dla-Wikipedii--/5439
heise-online.pl] - "Nagroda Quadriga dla Wikipedii"
*2008-08-19 [http://republika.onet.pl/25286,25,1,fabryka.html onet.pl]
- "Projekty fundacji Wikimedia"
== Meetings ==
27 September 2008 General Assembly took place in Poznań. Before and
after the Assembly there was workshop of Polish Wikipedians -
[[meta:GDJ|GDJ]] called ''Where are we? Where do we aim? How?'' There
was around 80 participants of GDJ of which roughly 50% were our
chapter members. The main reason to organize General Assembly was to
make minor changes to our bylaws and discuss projects on spending
money from tax deducible donations. Changes to bylaws have been
discussed and successfully accepted. Discussion about projects was
quite hot. All proponents could briefly explain their ideas, and then
it was discussed by others. Finaly a survey was made, which projects
were found most interesting. The results of survey is placed on Polish
Wikimedia page: [http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dyskusja:Projekty_OPP].
== Cooperation with other organization ==
The idea to create "Edukonf" – an informal group of free-content
producing organizations is in its final stage. The group consists of
Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska, Polish Librarian Associations, CC-Polska
and us. Although it is still not formally organized, we already
coordinate some actions. Among others we sent several, exactly the
same opinions about proposed changes in Polish copyright law and
organized a promotional action during Open Access Day:
[http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Open_Access_Day]
== Others ==
As the result of General Assembly discussion there are currently
preparation to organize this year:
*A contest called "Hufiec harcerski"
[http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Konkurs_%22Hufiec_harcerski%22] –
"Scouts writing contenst" in which several groups of Polish scouts
from two largest scouting organizations will be writing articles in
Wikipedia about their organizational structures and notable people
involed in it. Wikimedia Polska together with authorities of both
scouting organizatons is going to create a jury and donate around
2000 – 5000 PLN for prizes for best articles. (probably books or some
scouting equipment)
*Wikipstryk 2008/2009 [http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipstryk_2008] –
a contest for amateur photographers from Wrocław, for photographs of
notable objects in this city sent to Wikimedia Commons. The jury is
about to consist of Polish Wikimedia Board members and professional
photographers. The prizes are cameras, photo-accessories and books
about photography. The cost is estimated to around 5 000 - 10 000 PLN
Next year:
*Wikiekspedycja (Wikijourney) – the idea is to organize several teams
of wikipedians with laptops, cameras and cars and send them to regions
in Poland which are not well photographed and described in Wikipedia.
[http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiekspedycja]
On 30 September 2008 we had a meeting with City Major officials in
Gdansk. We discussed how they can support us in organizing Wikimania
2010. They found idea to have Wikimania in Gdansk very interesting and
suggested various ways how they can support us. The details of this
talks cannot be made public at the moment.
One of Wikipedians applied for funds to participate in Russian
Wikimedia Conference and give a lecture about Polish Wikipedia and
Wikimedia Chapter. The Board has accepted this application.
--
Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz
http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerekhttp://www.ganicz.pl/poli/http://www.ptchem.lodz.pl/en/TomaszGanicz.html